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U47 - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The construction of a nation-wide turnpike system of trusts, shortening trips and making transportation up to 10 times faster than before. These were organizations that maintained and improved major roads, funded by tolls collected from travelers.
        
        McAdam introduced a new road-building technique called "macadamization" which involved laying crushed stone layers to create a hard, smooth surface, thus improving travel speed.
    - - For heavy transport, water was still more convenient than land. Canals were crucial for transporting heavy goods like coal, iron, & raw materials cheaply & efficiently over long distances. They drastically reduced the cost & time of transportation. For example, the cost of coal transport was cut by about 50%, making fuel and raw materials more accessible to factories, which in turn lowered production costs and increased industrial output. Notable examples included the Bridgewater Canal and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.
    - - The development of the railways in the 1830s initiated a new phase in industrial development, marked by an enormous expansion in the production of iron/steel & coal. By 1850, the metal industries in England had so much power that the supply doubled the national demand. The surplus went to the USA, India, and some European countries.
        
        Railways drastically transformed the transportation of goods & people by:
        
        reducing travel time & costs
        
        making extensive travel possible for all the social classes for the first time
        
        increasing the movement of population from the countryside into the town
        
        integrating previously isolated, self-sufficient regions into the national economy
    - - The development of steamships in the early 19th century revolutionized maritime transport, used for both domestic & international trade. Also, major ports like Liverpool, London & Bristol expanded and modernized to handle increased traffic, facilitating the growth of international trade.
  - - - Changes in politics led to the end of Feudalism by 1700 (where peasants were obligated to provide labor/pay rents in exchange for the right to work the land), allowing peasants more autonomy.
        
        Increased agricultural productivity/efficiency led to lower food prices, so families could purchase manufactured goods, thus stimulating industrial growth so as to meet consumer demand.
        
        The introduction of the four-field crop rotation system as well as new crops (turnips & clover), which allowed for year-round cultivation & improved soil fertility. Not to mention selective breeding.
        
        Consequences
        
        The new methods of farming made it more profitable than ever before, but they required capital investment & large-scale enclosures of landlords through the Parliamentary Enclosure Acts, which meant a shift from communal to private farming. Unable to adapt to the new circumstances, the peasant farmer had to sell his properties and either migrate to the colonies, or to the industrial towns where there was a growing demand for labour.
        
        Population rose rapidly thanks in part to improvements in agriculture. Also the age of marriage went down and so women had more childbearing years. Birth rate went up and the death rate went down. In 1770 the population of Britain was about 8M, and a century later, by 1875, 23M. Between 1800 and 1850, the urban population in England more than doubled. And so did the size and number of industrial cities such as London, Manchester, Liverpool & Birmingham. The parts of England most deeply transformed by the Industrial Revolution were the north and the northern Midlands.
        
        As cities grew larger, the problems of the new industrial society became the everyday problems of the 19th c. England, real issues recurrently exposed by authors such as Charles Dickens:
        
        overcrowded neighbourhoods
        
        poverty
        
        housing problems
        
        pollution
        
        waste
        
        lack of hygiene
        
        unhealthy living conditions
        
        the growing tension between
        workers and business owners
      - & its effects on society:
        Population growth
        & Urbanization
  - - - the Cotton industry
        
        The cotton industry was a central part of the British economy and a key driver of the Industrial Revolution. The invention of new machines, such as the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny & the power loom that permitted increased production with a smaller expenditure of human energy. Britain was the world’s leading cotton manufacturer & exporter, but was reliant on the exploitation of slaves to obtain raw cotton imports from its colonies (in India & America).
        
        Textile industry
      - new Basic materials & Energy sources
        
        iron & steel
        
        coal, steam power, electricity, petroleum & internal combustion
      - Steam engine
        
        Coal had been substituting wood as the country’s main source of energy for some decades. However, deeper pits for the extraction of coal were necessary, but they could not be successfully dug without better methods. In 1702, Thomas Newcomen built the first economically profitable steam engine, which was quickly used to pump earth out of coalmines. After several innovations & improvements, it was commercialized & adopted in various industries, leading to the use of steam locomotives & steamships by the end of that century.
        
        & Coal mining
      - the Factory system
        
        A new organization of work which centralized production, bringing workers together in large facilities, which resulted in a division of labor (where tasks were divided into specific functions) and mass production, making products more accessible to a wider population.
  - - - England was held up as an example of industrialization for the rest of the European nations as well as the US. In America and Europe, English workers were hired to handle the British machinery, which was imported; England also loaned large sums of capital to other countries, or it made major investments on foreign industries.
        
        Aware of their head start, the British forbade the export of machinery, skilled workers, and manufacturing techniques. But the British monopoly could not last forever, especially since some Britons saw profitable industrial opportunities abroad, while continental European businessmen sought to lure British know-how to their countries.
        
        Belgium
        
        Two Englishmen, William &John Cockerill, brought the Industrial Revolution to Belgium by developing machine shops at Liège (1807), and Belgium became the first country in continental Europe to be transformed economically. Like its English progenitor, the Belgian Industrial Revolution centred in iron, coal, and textiles.
        
        France & Germany
        
        France was more slowly & less thoroughly industrialized than either Britain or Belgium. While Britain was establishing its industrial leadership, France was immersed in its own Revolution (1789-99), and its uncertain political situation discouraged large investments in industrial innovations. By 1848, France had become an industrial power but it still remained behind England. Germany, for example, did not begin its industrial expansion until its national unity was achieved at the end of the 19th c. (1864-71).
        
        the US & Japan
        
        The rise of US Industrial Power outstripped European efforts together with Japan which also joined the Industrial Revolution with great success. Conversely, the Eastern European countries were behind early in the 20th century.
- - - - With the movement of large masses of the population from the country to the towns and the new division of labor (factory system); came the distinction of two basic social classes: the rich & the poor. I.e., the capitalist employers (proletarians) & the workers, employees or working class (proletariat). The industrial middle class, often factory owners or merchants, accumulated wealth through industry & trade, widening the gap btw them and the impoverished working class, leading to class tensions & the rise of labor movements /trade unions.
        
        The specialization of work for mass production meant that: Workers lived in workhouses in factory towns in poor working conditions (unsafe, crowded & dirty), and had to work all day long (12-16h workdays). Men & women/children were separated as factories often assigned different roles to them, which involved family separation & disruption. Like women, children were paid significantly less and were left unsupervised or entered the workforce at 5-6, but this would later change with the regulation of child labor.
    - - Charles Lyell demonstrated that the age of the world was far greater than it had been supposed by religion & the Bible (The Principles of Geology). The implications of science seriously disturbed the ordinary man, so that he had either to ignore them or somehow confront them.
        
        Isaac Newton’s laws of motion and his work on gravity (Law of Universal Gravitation) provided a theoretical framework for engineers, whose practical applications were seen in the development of machinery & engineering, such as the design of bridges, locomotives & factories.
        
        Darwin's new system of knowledge of the world and his theory of evolution by natural selection through "On the Origin of the Species" (1859) provided the intellectual framework that led to the Golden Age of medicine, agriculture & industry by the end of the 19th c. Due to the evolutionist theory, the idea of God became less & less relevant, leading to an unpredecented religious crisis.
        
        Britain, unlike many European countries, did not suffer censorship by Church or state since this was the age of reason and, therefore, the idea of a world created by God was being challenged. As a result, men of action and men of ideas, industrialists and scientists met to share their ideas and observations. They unleashed a wave of free thinking and creativity.
      - During this period, a cascade of scientific breakthroughs had swept across the country, and were being increasingly applied to industry:
  - - - The industrial growth in Britain led to the rise of an urban working class who faced harsh conditions, low wages & long hours. In 1824, workers joined together to protect themselves against powerful capitalist employers and ask for fair wages & reasonable conditions. This movement favoured the legalisation of the first Trade Unions.
        
        Political rise of the working classes
        
        Trade Union Congress (1868)
        
        Trade unions had been forming since the early 1800s, but these were often small, localized & faced legal obstacles. In 1868, trade unions achieved national unification by the establishment of the Trade Union Congress, gaining legal recognition & political strength/representation. Its influence grew rapidly, the Conservative and Liberal politicians saw the necessity of winning working-class support and by 1900 the working classes were consolidated enough to form their own Labour Party.
        
        Parliamentary, labor & social welfare Reforms
        
        Great Reform Act of 1832
        
        Factory Act of 1833
        
        Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834
        
        Mines Act of 1842
        
        Ten Hours Act of 1847
        
        The Reform Act (i.e. the ‘Representation of the People Act’), aimed to extend the voting rights & redistribute Parliamentary seats/representation, thus satisfying many of the demands of the male middle classes who were gradually taking over England’s economy. Next year, the reformed Parliament stated a legislative accomplishment regarding (1), the emancipation of slaves in the British colonies throughout the British Empire, and (2):
        
        The Factory Act (1833), an effective act regulating child labour in factories which set the minimum age (9 years), the hours of work (8 hours), and the kind of labour to carry out.
        
        The Poor Law, however, aimed to reduce the cost of poor relief and make the system more efficient by encouraging the poor to become self-reliant rather than dependent on government aid, which forced them into hash workhouses.
        
        The Mines Act dealt with the exploitation of women and children in coal mines by prohibiting the employment of women/girls & boys under 10.
        
        The Ten Hours Act limited the workday to 10 hours for women & underage children.
        
        Rise of the middle class
        /Middle class revolution
        
        the beginning of Free Trade
        
        Repeal of the Corn Laws (1846)
        
        The Corn Laws were a series of protectionist measures enacted between 1815-1846 that imposed tariffs & restrictions on imported grain ("corn" being a term for all types of grain, including wheat). They were designed to keep grain prices high to benefit domestic landowners and farmers over foreign competition, however, this lead to higher food prices which particularly hurt the working class.
        
        The Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 marked the beginning of Britain’s shift towards free trade, helping solidify its position as the world’s leading trading nation during the Victorian era. The repeal helped lower the price of food (grain & bread), allowing workers to spend more of their income on other goods, which stimulated demand in other sectors of the economy (economic & industrial growth). It heightened the political power of the urban middle class over the landowning aristocracy. Also, by relieving the situation the working classes, it saved England from the revolutionary movements which took place over Europe at that time.
  - - - Education
        
        In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), the philosopher & women's advocate Mary Wollstonecraft, wife of the philosopher Godwin and mother of the woman who was to marry Shelley, made her well-known appeal for women’s education.
      - Marriage
        
        The most important choice in most women’s lives was the choice of a husband, as the possibility of finding satisfying work to take the place of marriage hardly existed yet.
        
        Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847), presented passionate love from a woman’s standpoint in a way that shocked many readers, who considered that she did not show a suitable feminine reticence on the subject.
        
        Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847) contrasted different kinds of love, especially that of the normally acceptable marriage with that of instinctive passion.
    - - North vs South
        
        Industrialization affected the north (and the northern midlands) of England far more than the south, and this, too, was a big transformation.
        
        In Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South;
        
        In George Eliot’s Silas Marner, Silas appears in a midland village from a northern town like a man from another country;
        
        In Dickens’s Bleak House, where the northern ironmaster Rouncewell is a socially incomprehensible figure from the point of view of a landed gentleman, Sir Leicester Deadlock.
        
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      - Town vs Country
        
        The face of the countryside was changing; an older, more tranquil way of life was being replaced by modern industrialized world. We find modern society and the old rural way of life contrasted
        
        In Thomas Hardy’s novels, for example Tess of the D’Urbervilles or The Mayor of Casterbridge. Hardy was recording a way of life that was rapidly vanishing.
      - Social degradation
        
        The towns grew very rapidly, without care for dignity or for human welfare. Women & children were exploited in factories. The industrial towns were no better than jungles where the law was the survival of the fittest.
        
        In Mrs Gaskell’s Mary Barton;
        
        In Dickens’s novels: David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, or Hard Times. In Hard Times we can also see in Mr Bounderby the theory of the Utilitarian School. A person totally unaware of humanitarian reform, indifferent to the education of children, Mr Bounderby actively resents any attempt to restrict the supply of child and female labour.
      - the Middle-class
        
        Thanks to the industrialization of the increasingly powerful middle-class became influential and more well-off than ever before. They fought hard in the first half of the 19th c. to secure the political representation to which they felt entitled. They were often portrayed by Victorian novelists who treated their materialism & arrogance with criticism/satire.
        
        In William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (1848), we have the arrogant merchant Mr Osborne, which wasn't important enough for London’s “inner circle” of high society.
- - - - Main works
        
        The Pickwick Papers (1837)
        
        Oliver Twist (1839)
        
        Nicholas Nickleby (1839)
        
        A Christmas Carol* (1844)
        
        David Copperfield (1850)
        
        Bleak House (1853)
        
        Hard Times (1854)
        
        A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
        
        Great Expectations (1861)
        
        A comic novel following the adventures of the good-natured Mr. Pickwick and his companions.
        
        One of Dickens' most famous works, it follows the story of Oliver, an orphan boy who escapes a workhouse and encounters the criminal underworld of London.
        
        It tells the tale of young Nicholas Nickleby, who must support his family after the death of his father.
        
        It tells the story of Scrooge, a miserly old man who is transformed after being visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come.
        
        A semi-autobiographical novel, it traces the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity, and is considered one of Dickens' most personal works.
        
        This novel offers a vivid depiction of the English legal system through the long-running case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, exploring themes of social decay and corruption.
        
        A critique of industrial society, Hard Times focuses on the dehumanizing effects of factory work on women, men & children.
        
        Set during the French Revolution, this historical novel contrasts life in Paris and London, following the lives of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton.
        
        One of Dickens' most famous works, it follows the life of Pip, an orphan who dreams of becoming a gentleman, exploring themes of ambition, class, and self-discovery.
        
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